


End of Her Rope

by Maniyak



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya Césaire Bashing, Alya salt for running headfirst into danger, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Identity Reveal, Ladybug is savage, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Is So Done, Minor Plagg/Tikki, Not because of Liela, Protective Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Protective Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Supportive Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Supportive Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), behold ladybug's rage, but like the angst isn't sad it's more angry, she also curses like a sailor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:13:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23338945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maniyak/pseuds/Maniyak
Summary: At some point, even Ladybug reaches the end of her patience because of civilians and reporters thinking the Akuma attacks are a game.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 27
Kudos: 1062





	End of Her Rope

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in the span of a couple nights. Not edited, but I did my best with my 4am brain. (I'll hopefully come back and edit this at some point)  
> Enjoy!

A scream ripped from Ladybug as she helplessly watched Chat Noir get pierced in his stomach by a giant needle and then slowly disappear out of thin air.

Instead of Alya.

He had just jumped in front of the Ladyblogger, who was so engrossed in livestreaming that she had actually _forgotten_ she was in the warzone. Alya looked shocked and her face paled, but she continued to livestream.

It happened to fast. One moment Chat was next to her, and then suddenly a needle as big as her arm had gone straight through his stomach. The only thing Chat could do before he completely disappeared was to look at Ladybug who was screaming louder than she had ever screamed. She tried to untangle herself from the giant seams she was stuck in but the more she struggled, the tighter the holds became. She could see the pain on Chat’s features. He still tried to smile as he mouthed a small “It’s okay” to her, but Ladybug saw the blood drip from his lips right before he disappeared and became a part of Seamstress’ cape design.

Ladybug’s scream died in her throat as her eyes zeroed onto the drop of his blood on the floor, right where he disappeared. Then her earrings beeped to remind her that she was on limited time, that she still had a fight to finish, and just like that something snapped inside her.

She made an inhuman sound, almost like a roar, enough to startle not only the civilians around her but the akuma as well. With a newfound strength (or maybe just because she no longer had any regard for her own health), she ripped herself apart from the seams Seamstress had trapped her in. She felt a sharp pain in her left wrist from the jarring action, and a small part of her brain (presumably Tikki) noted that she probably broke her wrist.

Ladybug didn’t care though.

She just felt angry. No, furious might be a better word. Outraged. Wrathful.

Everything around her fueled her anger at this point.

Civilians for thinking this was a game. Reporters for just thinking about the scoop without any regard to the actual fight or their own safety. Akumas for getting more violent with every other week and terrorizing the city with no second thought. Hawkmoth for being a psychopathic maniac who endangered the city by exploiting people’s bad feelings. The Guardian for choosing two teenagers to carry the burden of this world.

_She. Was. Done._

Ladybug swung her yoyo to Seamstress and grabbed her legs with it. Then, she used her full body strength to swing her towards one of Eiffel Tower’s legs. She knew this was more violence she had ever used on an akuma, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care anymore.

Seamstress slammed on Eiffel Tower and immediately lost consciousness. As Seamstress slid down the Eiffel tower to the ground, Ladybug didn’t do anything to soften her downfall. She only came close in order to get the akumatised object—her necklace—after Seamstress hit the ground with a thud. She yanked it out of the akumas neck and hastily broke it under her foot. When she grabbed the black butterfly with her yoyo, there were no kind words, no farewell, no nothing.

In fact, right after cleansing the akuma, Ladybug grabbed the white butterfly and squashed it in her hands.

She then ran back to where she had been trapped to find the Lucky Charm (a pincushion, of all things) she had procured seconds before Chat had disappeared and threw in the air. Everyone watched in awe as her magic swarmed around the city, fixing the broken buildings and returning the Akuma victim to normal, causing her to slowly wake up.

Ladybug’s magic then focused on the spot next to her, and she didn’t even take a second to stop (or let her own wrist heal) before she grabbed the newly appeared Chat in the swarm of her magic ladybugs.

When Ladybug hugged him tight, she was vaguely aware that her whole body was shaking. Chat started saying _I’m okay, we’re okay_ like a mantra into her hair as he tried to keep himself and Ladybug up. His presence helped her stabilize herself for a moment, but before she could get a hold of herself fully, the reporters made the mistake of running towards them while asking questions. With Alya leading them.

Chat could see the gleam in Alya’s eyes as she got closer to the embracing partners while she still livestreamed. He caught Alya’s eyes with a hardened gaze, but the excited reported didn’t catch the warning in his expression as she started. “Ladybug, are you and Chat-”

“YOU!” roared Ladybug as she turned around and pointed at her.

The crowd of reporters stopped as Alya froze in front of them. “M-Me?”

Ladybug walked towards the group as she thundered. “How many times have we told you to _stay away?_ Do you think this is a fucking joke?” With her every step towards them, the group shuffled two steps back. “Every other day the streets of Paris becomes a warpath because of a goddamn psychopath with a miraculous in his hands, don’t you get it? He has the same type of power we have! We can lose! We can die! Hell, we barely escape death with the skin of our teeth every week, right in front of you, yet you still stay around to watch. To record. To criticize and analyze our every move. Or our relationship. Or our magic.”

Chat agreed with her, but still tried to calm her down by squeezing her hand reassuringly. It only fueled her, as she now started to drag Chat behind her. “We put ourselves in danger because you are _stupid enough_ to run _towards_ danger! Even organisms with no brain run away from danger, but you? You come closer, so you can get a better shot of us _literally_ _dying_ while trying to save you!”

The group visibly faltered. Alya’s hands were trembling now, but Ladybug couldn’t find it in herself to care.

“What happens if one of you dies? Or gets impaled like Chat did today? How much do you want to bet on my Miraculous healing power, or to the fact that _I_ will make it out of the fight well enough to summon the magic? The akumas get stronger and more violent at every turn, do you think their blades aren’t sharp enough to cut you, pierce you or kill you? We can _promise_ you, they are. We know it _first hand._ ”

One of the reporters at the back of the group tried to butt in. “But Ladybug does this-”

“I’m done.” She cut him, with a stone-cold expression as she suddenly stopped. “I am done trying to save you.”

Chat tried to intervene, to calm her. “Ladybug-”

“And you are done too!” said Ladybug, suddenly turning to Chat. “Why do _we_ have to be the ones to carry _their_ scars? We can’t keep doing this! We can’t keep getting hurt for people who care more about ratings or the comments on the internet than their own well-beings.” Ladybug tried to blink away the burning in her eyes, but Chat knew her too well to not see her unshed tears. Her voice felt hoarse as she barely whispered in a tone only Chat could hear. “I can’t keep watching you die Chat. I just can’t.”

In return, Chat only pulled her back in for a hug as she hid her tears in his chest.

Her earrings beeped for a fourth time, reminding her that her time was about to be up.

The reporter group was stunned to silence for a moment and Chat took the opportunity to take the situation in his hands before Ladybug could tore the group a new one, _again_.

Chat quickly decided on how to position himself, as he supported Ladybug but also didn’t cause a full-blown panic by making the citizens think the heroes were leaving them to the hands of Hawkmoth completely. “We will still fight and cleanse the akumas, but we can’t do our jobs if people don’t use their common sense and find themselves a safe spot to hide. As Ladybug said, we are done trying to save you if you are running headfirst into the fight. We have to prioritize the fight and cleansing the akuma to save the city and everyone in it, so from now on if you are willingly and knowingly running into the danger, _you are on your own._ ” He looked at Alya’s eyes as he said the last part. “We won’t be responsible for whatever happens to you.”

Alya looked away in shame and nodded.

The rest of the group was now murmuring, but none of them were brave enough to ask anything after this. Chat grabbed Ladybug, who was still clinging to him tightly, and carried her to a nearby rooftop, where they would be out of sight. Her earrings started beeping continuously so Chat (although unwillingly) tried to softly pry her away.

“My Lady, you are about to detransform.”

Ladybug sniffed and clung tighter, making no attempt to move. “I don’t care.”

Her earring started beeping more as an answer. Chat closed his eyes just in time as he felt the magic wash away from her.

Chat heard Ladybug’s Kwami chirp disappointedly above them after a few seconds. “Ladybug, you can’t be out here. Your identities should stay hidden.”

Ladybug cleared her throat to speak but still didn’t move. “Tough luck, Tik. I’m not leaving.”

“But the Guardian-”

“If the Guardian wanted me to leave my partner behind after watching him get _impaled_ and _die_ , then he should have thought twice before choosing _me_ to become a child-soldier who fights with a butterfly weirdo with a god-complex.”

Chat smiled at her fierceness. “You’re savage, Bugaboo.”

Ladybug’s hold on him tightened, slightly increasing the empty pain on where he had been stabbed minutes before. He didn’t mind it though; he was more worried about her.

“My Lady, I promise you I’m okay.” he said softly.

“Bullshit. If I can still feel the ghost pain of my wrist, I know you can still feel an empty ache in your stomach.”

Chat stilled for a second, his blood running cold. “You feel them too?”

He felt Ladybug nod. “I can heal the damage but can’t stop the lingering pain or the scars. At least not on us.”

“I thought that was about my bad luck.”

“Nope.” Her tone turned bitter. “Just another perk of carrying a miraculous, I guess.”

Tikki chirped sadly as Chat heard her flutter closer to Ladybug.

Ladybug finally pried her arms away from his torso, but only to hold his shoulders and stand in front of him. “You can open your eyes, Chat.”

Chat shook his head no as he brought up the arguments Ladybug had told him to keep their identities secret. “What if one of us gets compromised, LB? Think of your loved ones, your friends.”

“You are my best friend Chat and I end up watching you get hurt every other day. And my civilian best friend is stupid enough to run into the battle to take videos, so I doubt you knowing my identity will manage to put her in any more danger.” She then grumbled. “In fact, it might help _you_ stay safer, if today’s any indication.”

Chat tried not to think too much about her last remark as he still refused to open his eyes. “I know you’re upset Ladybug, but I don’t want you to regret making a rash decision.”

Chat could almost feel her shaking her head. “It’s not a rash decision. I had a lot of time to think as I lied awake after every attack, worrying if you made it home in one piece, if you were in too much pain, if you were okay.” She forced herself to take a calming breath. “At this point there is a higher chance of me being compromised because you are hurt or because I can’t reach you.”

Chat stayed silent for a second more before he asked in a whisper. “Are you _really_ sure?”

“Yes.” She said, her tone final. “I’m done being scared of a possible dangerous future for my loved ones while watching _you_ in danger every day. You can open your eyes.”

Chat slowly opened his eyes and saw the unmasked blue eyes of the one and only Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

He suddenly felt a knot in his chest resolve itself, making him feel more at ease with breathing.

“ _Marinette,”_ said Chat, almost like a whisper on his smiling lips, “of course!”

He pulled her in for another hug, his mind running a hundred miles per second. A small laugh bubbled in his throat as he realized all those times they spent together. “Oh Bugaboo,” he laughed, “I bet you were so stressed out about your secret identity when I called you our everyday Ladybug!”

Marinette’s arms stilled momentarily, but she let out a shuddering breath immediately afterwards. “No kidding. I almost fainted right then and there because of you.” A small laugh joined his. “I can’t believe the two people who made me lie awake at night thinking about my identity were in fact the same person. You owe me many nights Adrien.”

A sudden silence fell as her last sentence registered on both of them.

“Wait, I don’t mean-” she panicked, as she pulled back to look at his face (which was matching the redness of her own face), “That’s not what I-, I mean I’m not opposed-, but I didn’t-”

It was at this point Plagg dropped Adrien’s transformation and started cackling, leaving the two flustered teenagers staring at him. Once his laughter slowed them, he hollered at Tikki. “I like you chosen, Sugarcube! She has a good spirit. Would have made a good kitten.”

Tikki zipped up to meet with the black kwami. “Don’t call me that!” she huffed. “And keep your paws to yourself.”

Although her annoyed tone, Tikki still scratched behind Plagg’s ears, making him purr. His purring didn’t stop him from snipping back though. “Nah, I won’t change my kid for anything anyway.” He added after a beat. “He has good connections for cheese.”

Tikki rolled her eyes but didn’t answer him, just chirping occasionally.

“For what it’s worth,” said Marinette, focusing back onto the unmasked green eyes of his partner, “I’m glad it’s you.”

Adrien smiled. “Me too.”

When Marinette dropped his gaze, she looked at the setting sun behind them and looked at him sheepishly.

“I know we will probably going to have to talk more about this, and that it’s getting dark soon, but can we sit here for a while? I just need a bit more time to…”

Marinette had looked away and trailed off, but Adrien knew her well enough to fill in the blanks.

_I just need a bit more time to convince myself that you’re okay._

He took her hand and squeezed it affectionately. “Of course, My Lady. As long as you need.”

They moved to sit down next to each other, without letting their hands break apart, when Marinette mentioned softly: “We’ll also need to talk about your self sacrificing habits some time soon.”

“Sure my lady,” Adrien smirked in a very Chat-like manner, “from what I hear, I owe you many nights anyway.”

Marinette groaned and Adrien laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm open to new fic ideas at: http://crazyunlikeyou.tumblr.com


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